Japan Confirms Coronavirus in Man Who Hadn’t Been to China

Japanese officials reported today that a man with no recent trip to China has contracted the novel coronavirus strain — probably after driving tourists from Wuhan, where a deadly outbreak began.

The man from Nara in his sixties in western Japan drove two groups of tourists from Wuhan earlier in January and was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms on Saturday, the health ministry said.

Health minister Katsunobu Kato said the government had reported two new cases, taking Japan's number to six so far.

"One of them has no record of visiting Wuhan, only twice in January he drove tourists from Wuhan on a bus," he told reporters.

An official in the health ministry confirmed to AFP that there was "no proof" that the man had recently been to anywhere in China, including Wuhan.

"If this is true then he might have been infected by tourists from Wuhan. And if so, this would be the first person-to-person transmission in Japan," the official added.

The other cases so far confirmed in Japan all involve people who have been to Wuhan.

Japan has imposed new checks on travelers arriving from China and is planning to dispatch a plane to Wuhan on Tuesday night to evacuate Japanese nationals from the city.

The plane is expected to bring back around 200 nationals, of some 650 who have asked to be repatriated, authorities said.